Friday, 31 March 2017

When a new director was appointed SRFTI and when her proximity with one
of the professors SRFTI had found guilty of sexual harassment was widely
discussed, we wrote to the minister of I&B stating our
apprehensions about the same. Now it has come to our notice that for a
long period of time during the enquiry into our charges of sexual
harassment against the professor, he and the current director shared the
same address.

Are you kidding me! A person who shared a house with
a professor who was found guilty of sexual harassment is in a position
of power now. And that too power which rules over girl students who
complained against the same professor. In one and a half months of her
appointment she dissolved the ICC for Sexual Harassment and slut shamed
and defamed complainants and harassed a complainant's mother. How would
it be if the mother of the accused boy in Jadavpur University is made
Chairperson of ICC-SH there? This sounds like that to me. (Not that the
situation is any better there, now)

Stop protecting the guilty
professors. If you have any shame left remove this woman from the
position of power. There is an obvious and direct conflict of interest.
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, now is the time to act. Or
bury your head in shame. Secretary Ajay Mittal, is this what you meant
when you said that I was imagining it all? Is Debamitra Mitra's
appointment my imagination as well? How long will you support sexual
harassment? Till it reaches your home?

Wednesday, 29 March 2017

Several
members of the FTII alumni, as well as the current students sent a
joint letter today to the director SRFTI with copies to the Registrar,
SRFTI, Secy, I&B, Joint Secy I&B and Amala Akkineni to express
their concern regarding the recent developments on the campus with
regards to the 6 sexual harassment complaints filed in December 2015 by 4
students against their professors. Here is the letter:

The Director
SRFTI
Kolkata.

Dear Madam,
We are a group of ex-students of the FTII, Pune, and it is with deep
concern that we write this letter to you. We are anxious about the
recent developments on your campus with regard to the 6 sexual
harassment complaints filed in December 2015 by 4 students against their
professors.
Our response to the fact of multiple complaints by
women students against faculty members and fellow students was of
distress. But we saw it as a positive development that SRFTI gave the
women students the space to speak confidently and fearlessly. We also
lauded the prompt action against the accused faculty members. The
constitution of the ICC headed by a faculty member, Putul Mahmood,
inquiring and investigating the complaints seemed to be a step in the
correct direction to ensure that justice would be sought. As a community
of filmmakers deeply connected to cinema education in the country and
to your premier film institute (many of us have been on the campus as
selection committee members or for workshops) we have followed the
developments with concern. It was reassuring to note that the complaints
were treated with utmost importance and action was taken to ensure a
fair investigation.

Many of us are a part of online feminist
discussion groups where a few groups posted a letter, dated 22 March
2017, which they have received from you in response to their letter.
Through this exchange we became aware of the decision to dissolve the
ICC. You have written, “Please be assured that there are strong reasons
for formation of a new ICC.” In the same letter you have indicated that
this administrative decision has been ratified in the Governing Council.

The disturbing news of the current ICC being dissolved, before its
three-year term is over and while the aforementioned cases are ongoing,
(despite the fact that its workings have been in strict accordance with
norms laid down by the government) has prompted us to write to you. This
step puts into question both the work done by the ICC since the time
the complaints were made, as also the integrity of your own faculty
member in charge of the investigation. It is unfortunate that the
important work put in by the ICC, that also includes respected activists
with sound understanding of the laws pertaining to sexual harassment,
is being discarded.

We can see the impact this will have on the
women students who have complained, on the faculty member who has
already faced hostility for her role in the ICC, and for the devastating
precedence this will set. This will subvert the work that the ICC put
in.

We are unable to comprehend why the institute felt it was
necessary to dissolve the ICC when their report has been submitted and
the previous Governing Council has ratified it and found the accused
faculty members guilty. The accused have challenged this in court so it
becomes all the more necessary for the institute to stand by the finding
and recommendations of the ICC. We would be grateful if you could make
public the reasoning behind your sudden decision.

We are
disturbed that the women students on campus are vulnerable and are
facing constant abuse, harassment, violence, threats and ostracization.
This is an outright violation of the basic human right to live with
dignity and function freely and fearlessly as students of creative arts.
We are disturbed when you say ‘’I cannot discriminate my students on
grounds of genders or on any other narrow considerations’’ and again
‘’... nefarious attempt by some misguided wayward women to bring
disrepute to the entire women community’’.

In these sentences there
appear to be pre-existing judgements, both about 'gender being a narrow
consideration', as well as about the idea of 'misguided wayward women'.
While we appreciate your attempts at forging a gender neutral policy on
the SRFTII campus, we are worried that those discriminations that have
been present historically, due to gender-specificity, e.g. sexual
harassment of women, will be made totally invisible.

Similarly,
while the case is sub-judice, it seems that you have already pronounced a
judgement against the complainants, by naming them as 'misguided
wayward women'. We acknowledge this as your personal moral view on
sexuality. However, we are of the opinion that institutions that teach
creative arts cannot afford to have such prescriptive approaches to
sexual rights, especially for women.

We are alumni of FTII and
the three accused faculty members are our peers. This is painful for us
but there is no doubt that as professionals who are invested in film
education and our film schools we expect these campuses to be spaces
where students can speak freely and fearlessly about their
vulnerabilities or any harassment they might face. This can be achieved
only if the systems put into place to ensure justice are respected.
Dissolving this very same committee appears to be an attempt to
disregard the very system that was meant to bring justice.
We
would like a reassurance that the ICC will get your full support to
ensure a speedy trial so as to restore an environment on campus that is
conducive both to gender justice and to learning. We remain deeply
connected to your institute and it is on this basis that we have written
to you to express our dismay.

Tuesday, 28 March 2017

Dear Kunjila, Sreecheta and Layashree
my heart goes out to you and I truly wish I can do more than offer you
my sincere and heartfelt support, empathy and condolences for all your
suffering.
While it may be the norm to belittle "modern" girls
and their fight for justice in a patriarchal society dominated with
surface morality, the system if followed will work. Think of this as the
turning of India's rusted wheels for justice. Think of this as your
fight for all women in India and be strong.

I have taken this up at the highest level possible for me and will
continue to advocate ethical behaviour of both management and Board
towards the issue and ICC. Unless someone at the top is willing to step
in there is little hope for attitudes to change. We are not here to make
judgement but to address the issue of women's safety and in the current
scenario it is questionable.
Shocked to see the video links.
Really shocked. Good you have this proof os despicable behaviours. Once
again, my heart goes out to you and I pray SRFTI student nightmares are
over for ever. Be strong and be well. India must change and will move
on.
Regards,
Amala

I'm in love with this woman. I have not heard such an honest voice from SRFTI in ages in this issue.

On 27th March 2017, I moved to Mumbai. SRFTI was still a mess. The new Director, Debamitra Mitra had harassed my mother. Acting Chairperson of Governing Body, Amala Akkineni had provided some hope with her letter to me. Meanwhile, complainant Layashree Joshi contacted the Ministry of Women and Child Development through Twitter. Minister Maneka Gandhi wrote back to her. On 28th March 2017, she wrote to SRFTI as well. This was a great victory for us.

Monday, 27 March 2017

A Ray of hope from Amala Akkineni. Faith in humanity restored, now need to prepare for the bigger battle. Amala Akkineni wrote to me regarding the harassment my mother faced from Director of SRFTI, Debamitra Mitra

'Dear Kunjila,

I am really sad to read your email and hear about the ordeals you have
been through. It is sad that such a response has happened despite the
assurances given by the Director to listen and attend to every
complaint. Had she patiently and politely listened to and filed your
complaint as required , it would have been resolved . This is both
disturbing and unnecessary on all counts .
I am taking up the matter with the board and the Ministry. My sincere apologies to you and your mother on behalf of all of us 🙏🏼.
Do understand that India is waking up to the issue of sexual harassment
and is still in infancy to know how to behave in such cases . No degree
on earth tells one how to behave empathetically .Every step of the way
victims are harassed , morally judged and exposed to public humiliation.
In extreme cases the law is abused to take revenge on the innocent . In
both extremes people do not know what or how to proceed and people sit
by watching helplessly.
I suggest you give your best effort to
your grad film and wait till internal dialogue takes its course . Thank
you for your trust and patience .
With best regards
Amala Akkineni'

Ekabali Ghosh, student, Jadavpur University wrote to me about the sexual harassment case she was fighting at her university. An idea popped up and i invited women.Put up a Facebook status saying this:

Friends I have an idea. We need an alliance. Jadavpur University, I
remember reading about the sexual harassment incidents there. I had even
spoken at a seminar. Talked long about the need for a proper ICC-SH and
how that is the first step towards justice. Don't know how many of you
remember me. Anyway, let us form this alliance. Our cause is the same.
Sexual harassment. Our enemy is the same. Powerful administration,
sexist environment, hostile students. JU people in my list,
tag people who can be part of this group. I shall do so with SRFTI. Now
be prepared to receive personal messages advising you about my
character, how most sexual harassment cases are untrue and all that.
Also I am not in Kolkata and am operating from Bombay while working
here. So like being a student and fighting like most of you, I have time
issues. But I thought for long and I have come to the conclusion that
this is the best way. I'll introduce myself in first comment. Love.

Saturday, 25 March 2017

25th March 2017Hello,Please listen carefully. This is a very mucky mess. There is a
larger nexus of students, professors, influential people, filmmakers
etc involved and we, a small group of women are at the receiving end of
this violence. We are aspiring filmmakers who have a lot to do, a lot of
films to make. It is just not fair that our future is being trampled
upon by such people who have all the power they need to crush us under
their feet. So listen with your soul, please.

2nd March 2017:
Internal Complaints Committee for Sexual Harassment [ICC-SH] of Satyajit
Ray Film and Television Institute [SRFTI] submitted its report on a
case I had filed against a professor. [The professor’s name has been
made public in the media, I just don’t want to do that here.] Rape was
ONE OF THE SEVERAL charges in my complaint. The complaint in its
entirety was made public by me long ago when I was under a massive
attack by the powers mentioned above. You can read it here.Around the same time I also publicly came out as the rape complainant
in SRFTI because people even publicly wondered if I was for real. The
video can be found here. It is already very shameful that a sexual harassment complainant has to
constantly prove herself right while the accused just have to wave
their magic wands and say spells like ‘slut shame’, ‘relationship’,
‘seduced’, ‘jilted lover’ etc. So for the last time, I am making
something clear: I was never in a relationship with that man. And nobody
has the right to tell a woman something as stupid as ‘you could not
have been raped because you were in a relationship with him’. Also,
jilted-lover-getting-back-at-the-unsuspecting-professor theory would
have made sense if he was the one who terminated the non consensual sex.
[That was all there was to it except for his manipulation and coercion
in so many levels]. It was me. Some time after he asked me if he could
have a threesome with me and my then boyfriend. All right?

Please
keep in mind that SRFTI forwarded my complaint WITHOUT MY PERMISSION to
the police and therefore I have to fight a court case now. That was on
the charge of rape. The ICC-SH looked into charges OTHER THAN RAPE and
submitted its report on March 2nd. I have not been given the report
yet even though it should have been done long ago. Ideally, depending
upon the content of the report, action should have been taken by SRFTI.
For example if the professor was not found guilty he should have been
cleared of blame. If he had been found guilty subsequent action should
have followed. This decision would have happened on 10th March, which
was when the Governing Council [GC] meeting was scheduled. This is the
meeting which was chaired by Amala Akkineni and had Madhu Bhandarkar!
present. [The same Bollywood Director accused of rape and the complainant later
mysteriously withdrew her complaint]. In this meeting instead of the
action I mentioned, it was decided that the ICC-SH shall be dissolved!

Kindly put two and two together. What is SRFTI hiding? Why have they
not given the report to me? Why is it that in a meeting where the report
should have been discussed and action taken on the professor, the body
which submitted the report was dissolved? There are carcasses everywhere
that it stinks so bad. Let me also point out that another case against
another professor was also under investigation by the same ICC when the
decision to dissolve it was taken.

Soon after this is when a
resurgence of slut shaming of me happened. My complaint against the
professor which is a public document was one of those in which 90% of
people yelled ‘She couldn’t have been raped’, because in some cozy
corner the accused was casually waving his magic wand and whispering the
spells i mentioned earlier. But one man cannot do it. He was supported
by the vicious nexus of SRFTI and its power houses. Students who are
usually powerless also become powerful and bare their teeth in arrogance
when they have the backing of professors and higher authorities. Soon after this Director Debamitra Mitra was so emboldened, she told my
own mother that her daughter was staying with the professor and made the
complaint only after that. She was so emboldened, that she wrote a
group of feminists the exact words she told my mother. That women
including me were ‘misusing’ the Sexual Harassment Act, we were
‘nefarious’ and ‘wayward’. Where is this power coming from? As an
employee of Government of India, whatever your personal beliefs are, you
will definitely think twice before saying that the Sexual Harassment
Prevention in Workplaces Act is something which is being misused. Yet,
she, forget being a government employee, certainly our government is in
deeper shit, being a woman and a citizen dared say that. Where is she
drawing her power from? Why is she confident that I could not have been
raped even when ICC-SH had not even investigated the rape charge? Where
is my report? Give it to me. What are you hiding? Show it to me.

Thursday, 23 March 2017

Maitree (a network of women's rights activists and individuals) had
written to Debamitra Mitra, Director, SRFTI protesting the dissolution
of SRFTI Committee for Sexual Harassment. Debamitra Mitra responded in the
most preposterous way possible. Below is the complete letter. The highlight is mine.

Dear Ms. Kapur,This is to acknowledge receipt of your mail dated March 20, 2017. To
be honest, I have been inexplicably shocked and surprised to receive it
as it has been difficult to accept that such a mail could come from
someone of your stature, vision, mission and
wisdom. The most unfortunate aspect of your initiative to get into an
important administrative decision which was endorsed by the eminent
members of the Governing Council is the implied suggestion that rules
and law of the land have been mercilessly trampled
by an insensitive administration of the Institute. The mail obviously
raised a serious question on my administrative honesty, integrity and
competence. It also projects me as a person who is completely bereft of
any sympathy or compassion for the victims of
sexual harassment.Everybody needs to appreciate and acknowledge that I am a woman too,
and being so, I am equally concerned about the dignity, security and
safety of my girl students. However, as their guardian in the institute,
I cannot discriminate my students on grounds
of genders or on any other narrow considerations. I have always felt
that while a girl student must be made to feel assured of full
protection against any kind of harassment, she should also understand
that misuse or abuse of law with ulterior motive cannot
be allowed or tolerated. We cannot afford to maintain philosophical
indifference in the face of any nefarious attempt by some misguided
wayward women to bring disrepute to the entire women community. There
are several instances where law made to protect the
interest of citizens have been abused. Section 498A of the IPC and the
RTI Act are a few examples.Please be assured that there are strong reasons for formation of a
new ICC. I would request you to believe that the Institute
administration headed by me cannot and will not do anything that can be
translated as against law or as deliberate denial of justice
to my own dear female students who become genuine victims of sexual
harassment. However, I shall also continue to be tough wherever there is
an attempt by any woman to misuse the provisions of the Act to settle
other scores.Regards. Dr. Debamitra Mitra

Wednesday, 22 March 2017

I don't know if you'll believe me when I say this. But this happened.
Amala Akkineni, the acting chairperson of SRFTI (a film school known for
its alarming number of sexual harassment cases more than cinema) had
asked me to walk into Director Debamitra Mitra's room and ask her anything I
wanted to know. She had ensured that sexual harassment complainants
like me will be given justice. Let me give you a sample of the justice I
got from Debamitra Mitra.

Since I had to leave for Bombay to do
the colour correction of my film, my mother had said that she'd give a
letter expressing concern over the developments related to sexual
harassment in the institute to Director Debamitra Mitra. Below are the things Debamitra Mitra did when Mother met her for the same.

Debamitra Mitra told my mother that the professor who raped me and I were staying together in
the institute. She ASKED MY MOTHER TO SIGN A PAPER which said that my
mother had denied Debamitra's claim. She told Mother that her
daughter's complaint of rape was made only after her having stayed with him. [Insinuating that I had 'enjoyed' staying with him and that abuse was an afterthought]

Yes, she was talking about the
same professor against whom I am fighting a case of rape in Calcutta
high court, the same professor who has not attended even one hearing of
the internal inquiry. Debamitra Mitra should appear for that man in
court with this kind of slut shaming skills.

She also went ahead
and asked my mother if she'd heard of section 498. 'Write it down if you
haven't' she said. Debamitra Mitra 'informed' my mother that section 498
was abolished because of increased misuse of it by daughters in law. If
anyone has her number please feel free to ask her what she meant. She
also gave her a sweet assurance:

"Now Srfti will not harass her (me) because she will be going out from SRFTI by 31st march. Now a woman director has come"

My mother felt faint and a doctor had to be called. Her BP had shot up.
She had to ask for a vehicle to be arranged for her to get back home.
She missed the train she had to catch today to Delhi.

Ms. Debamitra
Mitra, do you have any explanation for this that you did to my mother? I
am coming back. You will have to answer me. You will have to face the
consequences of what you did to a mother who stood with her girl when
she was sexually harassed. I am not going anywhere till you are told,
taught, by women like me what you need to know.

Monday, 13 March 2017

Hi people, you know Madhur Bhandarkar, right?
You know how he was accused of rape and how the girl told the court for
'mysterious reasons' that she didn't want to pursue the case, right? Now you
know SRFTI right? That prestigious film institute in which sexual harassment
cases including that of rape came up against three professors, last year?
Against one more professor going on currently. Yeah, so guess what, when a new
Governing Council [GC – the highest decision making body of the institute] had
to be formed after all of this, SRFTI approached this man, Madhur
Bhandarkar to be a member. They couldn’t think of any other person in the
country, i guess. While the institute maintained that they
ABSOLUTELY needed a female for the post of the Director of the institute, because of the history of sexual harassment
cases, people like Bhandarkar and Debamitra Mitra, the female director everyone
was keen to appoint, made the decision of reconstituting the sexual harassment
complaints committee.

Oh, by the way another man who was approached to be
member of the council was Irrfan Khan. Yes, he, another accused in a sexual
harassment case is a member too. So tell you what, i’ll like to make a list of
all such film people involved in sexual harassment in order to make it easy for
SRFTI to choose its Governing Council members in future. Let's start with
Shiney Ahuja who went to jail for raping his maid, was 'welcomed' back to the
film world and was accused of harassing his co-actor. Dear Shiney Ahuja and
others who like sexually harassing, raping women etc. Please approach SRFTI,
they will welcome you with pleasure.Meanwhile we will fight this predator
institute with all the might we can gather.

Saturday, 11 March 2017

The matter has become clear now. We now know why we, sexual harassment
complainants, mostly Sreecheta Das and i have been
facing a new wave of violence and harassment from the institute of late.

In the Governing Council meeting yesterday it was decided that Putul Mahmood will be removed
from the position of Chairperson of ICC [Internal Complaints Committee for
Sexual Harassment]. This decision has been made in the most dubious way
possible. It is not even legal. ICCs are declared valid or invalid by courts
and not by allegations made by professors who have a history with sexual
harassment complainants. This is a very serious issue and needs to be addressed
as soon as possible because it is impossible for us to see it removed from the
context of two recent incidents, Sreecheta being subjected to an enquiry on the
grounds that she vilified a professor and me being threatened that my diploma
work shall be stalled. It should also be noted that this decision has been
taken while

a)Ms Sreecheta Das has a sexual harassment complaint of
which the preliminary report has been submitted already by the committee
chaired by Putul Mahmood.
b) A court case is being fought by two
professors found guilty of sexual harassment against the ICC and the institute.
This is to say that while we girls are also party to that case and are fighting
it, one fine day SRFTI has decided that it shall bypass the court of law.

c) An ICC is constituted for a period
not less than three years and that means that its tenure is till April 2018.
This is not about the people involved. It is about the irregularity of the
affair and the context and setting against which it is being done.

d)SRFTI does not have a Chairperson
now and yesterday's GC meeting was presided by actress Amala Akkineneni. We
have reasons to believe that outsiders like her who was present in the meeting
were grossly misinformed or duped into taking this decision. Minutes of the
meeting are not available to us majorly because most of the time they are not
written and secondly because nobody gives us anything.

Such irregularities have been happening for a long time, even ones involving
lots and lots of money and sexual harassment issue brought this institute under
the glare of media. We also believe that this move has been made also by those
who have been questioned repeatedly by audit and CAG reports. We urge our
filmmaker friends and others who have stood with us in this battle to support
us by doing whatever you can to help us get justice and lead a peaceful life in
SRFTI. Frankly, all of us are tired of fighting the institute. We need urgent
help with the following:

a)Getting the news and other details out in media. [SRFTI
is an important source of money for many of the newspapers here and of late we
have seen tendencies which tell us that media has been made to shut up with
money in matters related to SRFTI]

b)We had written to Minister M Venkaiah Naidu expressing
our apprehension with respect to the appointment of the new Director of SRFTI.
What we had suspected would happen has just happened. If there is anybody who
can help us get in touch with the minister to follow up on this, please help us.

We will fight sexual harassment. Don't try to weaken us, destroy us, break
us or kill us. We will fight.

Wednesday, 8 March 2017

Dear Dean, Dear Registrar, in case the Dean is the professor mentioned in this letter who practises untouchability with me,

I am writing this letter to bring to your attention a few details. SRFTI is trying to ruin my career. Yes, i do believe that snatching a film from a student director is equivalent to snatching her career away from her. Most of us go the vast world of films with our student projects as certificates. It is a very well known fact that no filmmaker asks for a certificate from an institute but only evaluates your capabilities looking at your previous works. The hardships that SRFTI had subjected me to, during the shoot of my diploma project have been duly documented in the form of numerous letters i had written while in the middle of the project. Now there are the following problems that have been put in front of me and i have been humiliated to no end ONCE AGAIN.

Yesterday, (9th March 2017), my student editor messaged me asking me to call her. When i did, she told me that Prof. Saikat S Ray had told her that the lab disk should be made on the same day. Later when i asked Prof. Ray, he told me that that was not what he had said and that what he meant was that it was better the earlier it was done. I completely agree. I would love to complete my work as soon as possible. IF YOU LET ME.

When i went to collect signatures from all HoDs on the crew list as the procedure is, here, Prof. Debashish Ghoshal told me that he cannot permit Kalhan Raina’s name be written under the title ‘Sound’. I told him that that would be equivalent to stalling my project and he said ‘let that be’. He first told me that if that credit was maintained, he would have to terminate Kalhan Raina’s studentship. Later he called Kalhan and told him that ‘he will can my film’. I find this extremely intimidating and irregular from the part of a professor. He holds power and he was blatantly giving out a threat. Not cool. Not done. He did not even see that the credit list i had given had both Shib Sankar’s name and Prof Abdul Rajjak’s name under ‘Production Sound Recordist’ and ‘Mix’ respectively. This is evident from the note he penned in his own hand while the paper was with R P and Prof. Debashish Guha.Yet, in the evening of the same day, i had a talk with him and the matter was resolved verbally with neither him nor me, being happy, but yes, i get it, the world is not perfect and nobody is honest, SRFTI, the least of all, because SRFTI’s policy, i got to know today, is that credits shall not be given to the person who worked and will be given to random people who did not work. I sometimes imagine a situation in which Mr Shib Shankar is asked what the story of my film is. Here, even if a person has not even read the script, they will be given credits. This apparently is government policy. So be it, governments are like that. Like i said, the issue was resolved between professor Ghoshal and me in the evening and this letter is to put on record the events which happened and the humiliation i faced.

As if that was not enough, Ms R P, my student editor, decided to help in ways she can. I know that i am taking a lot of your time but some letters have to be long. Especially when i have been pushed to the edge of a cliff. So, here is the chronology of events EVERY ONE of them for which i have supporting screenshots from my phone. As soon as my animation got over, i informed Ms R P to come to Kolkata to do the rest of the job which are the followinga) Subtitlingb) Making credit cardsc) Making the lab diskd) Do a minor change in edit because the picture placement had to be changed by a few frames after sound work.Some related facts: I had asked permission from Editing department to do some of these jobs (have the supporting letter and reply) so that i could save time. It was not possible because I was doing animation work during the workdays and Prof. Saikat told me that it would be difficult to open the department just for me on weekends. Since it was a genuine problem i had to give up. I had to wait for animation and sound to get over so that i could call Ms R P back. I did, on 20th January 2017. She told me that she was busy and that she’d come in the first week of February. I asked her to come on February 1st, she said she’d reach after 3rd. She reached on 6th February 2017. On 7th she told me that she’d see me in 2nd half. On the same day i gave her the necessary files to start work. On 8th February, when i said that i would be late to come because in the morning i was doing some changes in Sound with Kalhan, she said that she will start work only after i come. When i saw how slow she was in doing subtitles and also considering the fact that the language Malayalam might give her problems, i took over the job of subtitling. I completed the first draft, if i may call it that in one day. Attaching screenshot where she is asking me to ‘continue work’ because she had ‘some work’.After i finished subtitling she again dilly dallied around the titles. Again, to save my own time, i decided to make the required .tiff files myself. When the work did not get over, she told me that she’d be leaving on 15th February, Wednesday. Since i am no expert in photoshop, i kept on asking her details of the kind of file she needed to which she had no answers. Finally i had to ask her to give Prof. Santanu’s number. I couldn’t reach him on that number and i took a .tiff out with whatever limited knowledge i had. In the following screenshot you can see her asking ‘if i really needed her’. Like i said, i told her that under Saikat’s instructions i am doing the titles myself. Prf. Saikat S Ray can also confirm that it was he who put a LuT on my film and gave me an out because i had to submit it to a festival. R P was absent. Throughout.

Regarding 2)d), anybody who checks my film can see the portion still being out of sync because Ms R P has still not synced it. I stopped asking because there simply is a limit to asking a person to do their job. If i knew how to work on Avid, i would have done it. Sadly, i don’t have time to learn that software now because now i have to learn After Effects to make titles. In the following screenshotYou can see her asking for the pen drive while i was working in Sound department from 7 p.m to 2 a.m. On 6th March, I was supposed to sign the DVD in sound department. When I sat down with R P to do the titles, i realized that she is slow in doing that on Avid and therefore there was no way i could sign the DVD. More than that, what struck me was that she was more interested in knowing the Sound title card and what was written in it. Since i saw the speed at which she was working, that night i calculated the time using Premiere Pro. If she had told me she was slow with Avid, she herself or i myself could have done it earlier in Premiere. I lost a day there. Finally with the duration i calculated, the finals sound mix was done and i signed the disk.

On 8th March, ironically enough, Women’s day, she called me. While i was running around departments asking for signatures from HoDs, she scanned the title list. She asked me if i had got a signature from Sound department. I said no. Prof. Putul Mahmood was acting HoD of my department and i was in a hurry because she had asked me to go to her office in ten minutes for her signature. So i asked Ms R P to get signature from her HoD who is Mr Shyamal Karmakar who practises untouchability with me. She left. She was taking a lot of time so i had to call her up again and ask her if it was done. She was in front of Editing Department with Prof Debashish Guha and Prof. Debashish Ghoshal was walking away from them. Upon reaching there i saw that she had not got the signature of her HoD and that Prof. Ghoshal had written his notes on my paper. I lost my cool and had to raise my voice to ask her why she had not got signature from her HoD. She said that he wasn’t on campus. Miraculously in five minutes, i saw him approach Ms. R P. Praise the Lord for these miracles! I had to snatch my paper away from her and the professor there because it was utterly humiliating.

I don’t mind doing any amount of work for my film. I have already done subtitling and created the files needed for titling. I can do the rest myself too. Or anybody BUT Ms R P. Because i am not here to get humiliated by her or anyone else. I am aware that the institute does not trust me, but believe me, i am more honest than all of SRFTI put together. But that doesn’t count. If you don’t trust me with the work, you can appoint anybody you trust to oversee the work. Or like i said, anybody can do it and i can be there just to make sure it is being done the right way. In either case, i cannot work with Ms R P. She has been punished for ragging, she is not even allowed inside the hostel, yet she is here. She is the person who held a General Body meeting against me and yet i did nothing. If till this moment i kept my cool and i lost it today, there is a reason. It is because Ms R P ceased being professional.

Hope you understand the situation and act accordingly. If not, please get ready to seeing me every day in SRFTI at your door, demanding justice, till the day you kill me, institutionally. Trust me, you don’t want to see me every day. I am an ugly sight.

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